Julian Sanchez says new regulations would give law enforcement a “back door” to monitor online communications, threatening civil liberties and stifling innovation in the process.
The details are still being hammered out, but the Times reports that next year the Obama administration will seek legislation requiring telecoms, online services, and software companies that enable encrypted communications — from instant messaging to Voice over IP — to build back doors into their systems for the government, guaranteeing law enforcement the ability to unscramble their users’ conversations. Foreign communications companies doing business in the U.S. would have to build local facilities for more convenient eavesdropping.
